I was recently using the school log books of Heywood for our ongoing Community History project (http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/) and found that the earliest log books we held for the school were from 1938. It is unusual for us to took at the log books for this period, and I discovered that they gave an interesting insight into the lives of rural schoolchildren (including the evacuees) during wartime.

 
Evacuees from Portsmouth in Kilmington, 1939.
Ref: P32983

The children must have first realised something serious was happening in May 1939 when they came into school to be fitted with their new gas masks. The Assistant Directors also made enquiries as to the requisitioning of school furniture. During a weekend in September 1941 an official visited to take school measurements in case it needed to be used in an emergency. Gas masks were routinely inspected; a van toured the villages from September 1941 and any defects were attended to. A gas mask drill was taken one afternoon in June 1941. 

The first evacuee is reported as being admitted in September 1939. Two days later an air raid warden came in to discuss the safety of the children in case of an air raid. Another evacuee arrived the same month, later returning to London in March 1940, but in June the school was closed for four days to prepare for the new intake of evacuees. Twenty four children arrived from Barking and began attending the local school. A headmistress and assistant from Barking visited the Heywood school to see how the new arrivals were getting on. In August 1940 the Director of Education for Barking and the Chairman of the Education Authority visited the school. Barking teachers seem to have taken turns to regularly visit their students who were now being taught at a number of schools in the area, namely North Bradley and Bratton as well as Heywood. Two more evacuees left Heywood in July, one returning to Barking. By September 1944 the school had 15 evacuees and in November a foster mother was called into school about her evacuees, but unfortunately we aren’t told why. The evacuees finally began returning home in December 1944, but not all of them had left by Christmas, as £2 5s were given for their Christmas party entertainment expenses. In fact two evacuees from the senior school did not return home until July 1945; they were medically inspected before leaving for the station.

 
Interior of the Vesta Cinema, Westbury, 1928.
Ref: P40372

Money appears to have been given to the school specifically for the evacuees; in December 1941 a postal order of 14s 6d was received to spend on the evacuees at Christmas time and the following year six shillings were received to assist ‘in the entertainment of the evacuated children’ at Christmas. Materials, including knitting wool, were brought for the evacuees in October 1940, and in December Christmas cards and cash ‘were allowed’ for the Barking children. In January 1941 they were taken by bus to the Vista cinema in Westbury to see a special performance.

 
Film choices for the weekend of the evacuees trip (although the 'special showing' may  mean that a different film was shown).

The school helped the war effort by encouraging the children to collect money for various charities. Seven shillings and six pence were raised for the Finnish Relief Fund in March 1940. In December 1940 six pairs of wristlets were knitted by the children and sent to the Knitted Comforts Fund.  By January 1942 children were bringing in pennies to help buy wool to continue knitting for the forces. The following month children wrote notes to their parents about Warship Week which raised a total of £13, 1s, 6d (noted as a special effort), and in June seven scarves were knitted by parents and children, sent to the Merchant Navy. In May 1943 £39 was raised by the School Savings Group for the Wings of Victory week and a collection was made for the British Sailor’s Society. By May 1944 the children were writing letters to their parents about Salute the Soldier week. Their target was to raise £50 but in fact they collected an amazing £293! The last collection during the war was for ‘The Aid to China Fund’ when 17s were collected. The children also helped by picking rose hips, collecting twenty four and a half pounds worth in November 1944. It seems that this collection was not entirely without gain, though, as almost a year later the school received four shillings and one and a half pence for them.

                                    
Wiltshire Times article, May 27, 1939, p.2 , suggesting subjects with which to amuse evacuees when they were not at school, and the strategies to be put into place for dealing with such a large influx of children to what were often small rural communities.

School life was disrupted quite often. On the 4^th June 1940 ‘an air raid sounded before school this morning’. A few parents did not hear it and sent their children to school before 9am. The all clear sounded at 9.40am and all children had arrived by 10am. In fact air raid warnings occurred again twice in September, forcing school to start late. In February 1942 workmen came into school ‘fixing the blackout curtains’; the infants had to come into the large schoolroom whilst the other children were working. The children were also given talks as in December 1941 when they were warned about picking up suspicious looking objects ‘with special reference to anti-personnel bombs’. The Police Inspector visited the school in March 1944 to warn the children about picking up any strange objects dropped from aeroplanes. He also warned them about accepting sweets from Americans! The following month the children were given a talk about the ‘second front’ arrangements and how it may affect their school attendance. We are told that in connection with this the Chairman of the Invasion Committee of the parish (the vicar) came in to test the school bell. The summer holidays were extended for a week due to the outbreak of the war, but conversely in April 1941 foster parents were told that the school would be open for three extra days at the beginning of the Easter holidays for evacuees only; 50% attended.

It seems that as well as collecting for others the Heywood schoolchildren received help themselves from abroad. In December 1943 ten pairs of wellies were applied for from a number ‘sent to this Country as a gift from America and Canada’. The school received eight in January 1944 with a further two pairs to follow. Another five pairs were received at the beginning of 1945 ‘for children who have a long distance to come to school’. Five yards of American cloth were bought in February 1944 and in February 1945 more American cloth was sent for – what it was used for we will never know! In January 1945 two six pound tins of meat and one five pound tin of biscuits were received from the catering office to be used to feed the children in an emergency. In fact they were needed sooner rather than later, but for climatic rather than wartime reasons. In January bad weather made the roads impassable so no hot meals were brought to the school. The emergency food was used instead. Five days later no hot meals arrived and the children had to be sent home.

Julie Davis

Local Studies Assistant